Truth For Life

Guest (Male): If you've ever tried to determine your significance by comparing yourself to others, join the club. In Luke's Gospel, we find Jesus' very own apostles bickering over which one of them was the greatest. And today on Truth For Life Weekend, Alistair Begg looks at how Jesus addressed their prideful inclinations.

Alistair Begg: Our God and our Father, we look to you now as with our Bibles open on our lap, that the Spirit of God may be our teacher. We so desperately in need of your help to save us from just simply listening to the voice of a man.

And so we ask that you will come and speak into our lives, speak to us by name, oh Master, let us know it is to us, and then grant us grace to follow hard and fast after Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Last week we said that there were a number of words that we were going to gather our thoughts around, and we only managed to deal with one of those words. The word was betrayal, and we spent most of the time thinking about the theological concept of foreordination. And we leave that behind for the time being and move on to our second word, which emerges from verse 24 and following. The first word was betrayal, and the second word is dispute.

If it is stunning to think of the betrayer emerging from the inner circle of Christ's followers, it is hardly less dramatic to think of the disciples engaging in this conversation which Luke describes for us here, especially since they're doing so so quickly on the heels of all that Jesus has said. He has, in the breaking of bread, spoken of his self-giving, his body broken for them, his blood being shed for them.

And you would think, wouldn't you, for a moment or two, that in light of that, if we'd been present, we might have been thinking far higher thoughts than these individuals. And what we're told is that in the phrase, incidentally, is the same phrase in verse 23, they began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this, namely betray. And then in verse 24, a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest.

Surely not! Can it possibly be? This sounds like a pastor's conference. I wonder if you've ever been at a pastor's conference. If you're not a pastor, the chances are you haven't, but to go to these conferences is a daunting prospect and it brings out the worst in all of the pastors. And when I read this phrase, I said these disciples look like a pastor's conference. A dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest.

"How big is your church?" What does that mean? "How many services do you have? What do you do here? What do you do there?" And when you attend these events, some of the greatest insecurities in each of our lives come out as we try and let everybody know that we're actually doing phenomenally well, even though we may be doing pretty poorly.

So I'm actually encouraged by this little scenario here. I'm encouraged that these disciples did what they did. I know they shouldn't have, but it makes me feel a lot better because I've done this. I'm sure none of you have. I'm sure it's never crossed your mind this week to think of yourself more highly than you ought, to think of yourself as more significant than you really are.

To give yourself an edge by thinking about doing somebody else down, of considering the fact of where you've been and what you've done and what you've earned and the status that you have secured as somehow or another being the really significant thing, the thing that makes the bells ring and makes the world spin. It's interesting, isn't it, that Jesus would choose such a group? I'm encouraged by that too.

If he had chosen twelve Marines, all of them with the potential of becoming four-star generals, how could we have identified with this group, except those of us who have the same potential, which limits us significantly? But what does he take? He takes this ragtag of humanity. He takes Philip, who's a diffident kind of character. Takes Peter, who's always got his foot in his mouth, takes it out momentarily to put the other one in.

Takes Thomas, who's always saying, "I couldn't possibly believe that! Where's the evidence? Where's the proof?" Takes Matthew, who after all was a tax collector working for the government, a bit of a rascal, and so on. Just a strange group of individuals. Have you looked around this morning? I don't think anybody could come in here and say, "Well, apparently he came for the brightest and the best."

There a strange group of people Jesus puts together. Yes, look at them. A dispute arose as to which of them was considered to be the greatest. Now, you would think they would have learned in time because this wasn't new. If you turn back to chapter nine for just a moment, you realize that Jesus has been tackling this thing over the duration of time that they have been his followers.

Luke chapter 9, verse 46. An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and made him stand beside him. Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all, he's the greatest."

This is such a topsy-turvy view of the world. He who is least among you is actually the greatest. Their timing is horrible! So soon before the crucifixion, so quickly after this celebratory Passover meal. "You shouldn't be sitting in that seat! That's my seat! I always sit there! I don't care if you were on the Mount of Transfiguration. Sit down! I like it here." Just like children. Just like us, jockeying for position.

Pride is an ugly monster. Pride is actually the ugliest of monsters. Pride transcends racial barriers, intellectual barriers, social barriers. Pride penetrates everything. And pride in our contemporary culture has actually been elevated to a position of desirability. I followed a car the other day and it had a bumper sticker that said "Pride is honor." I don't think it is. I think humility is honor. Pride is ugly.

But to think in that way now, to think biblically if you like, in that kind of environment is to find ourselves immediately at odds with the surrounding thought forms, which is exactly what Jesus was saying to his disciples. When you read the Puritan writers, you discover that they had a better grasp on this issue than many. And so during the week I did, and I want to give you just a number of quotes. You won't have time to write them down. You don't need to. Just let them percolate through your thinking.

Says one of the writers, "Pride loves to climb up, not as Zacchaeus to see Christ, but to be seen." Zacchaeus climbs up the tree so he may get a view of Christ. We climb up the tree so that everyone will say, "Oh look at her up the tree." Or how about this? "As sin is of the last enemy, so pride the last sin that shall be destroyed in us."

Only a strong Christian can bear the wine of commendation without the resulting spiritual intoxication. In other words, it takes a strong Christian to be able to live with commendation without the commendation intoxicating them and thereby distorting their view of the universe. That's why the Scottish lady said to me a long time ago when I was 10, "Sonny, flattery is like perfume. Sniff it, don't swallow it." Makes the same point.

Many of us are unable to deal with commendation. And incidentally, in passing, this is why we need to exercise great care with our children. We need to know when not to commend them. They are not always commendable. Their activities are not always worthy of commendation. And if their notion in life is that they exist simply for commendation, then they will grow up to be some of the most obnoxious rascals that you have ever seen in your life.

When the devil cannot keep us as another from a good work, then he will work in every way to make us proud of it. If he can't keep us from engaging in a good work, then he will labor to make us proud of the good work, thereby diminishing any sense of influence at all.

And finally, for the avoiding of this vice pride, God allows men to fall into other vices which men abhor and punish, such as theft and fornication and drunkenness, to make them ashamed by these vices who were not ashamed of pride. It's an interesting thought, that God will allow men and women to fall into obvious, ugly sins that are regarded as such by in the community in order to confront them with the ugly monster, which is the fact that they refuse to face, namely pride in their own hearts. God doesn't tolerate it. He exalts the humble and he resists the proud.

So the disciples are really missing the point, aren't they? They're missing the point completely. Is it that they were concerned about the seating arrangements? Possibly. Jesus has said to them in verse 27, "Listen," he says, "I am the one who is among you, I am among you as one who serves." That's the point.

Now when you read John in parallel to this in chapter 13, you can see the impact that must have been made when in the context of this dialogue Jesus gets up from the table, takes a basin of water, wraps a towel around himself, and goes and washes all their feet. Indeed, it would seem more than likely that the dispute as to who was the greatest had to do with what they weren't going to do.

"I'm not washing the feet! I've washed the feet six times. I washed the feet at Martha's house. I'm tired of washing your feet. Your feet stink, Peter. I am not washing your feet." And while the debate is going on, which is this "I am above this," Jesus stands up in the middle of it and without a word does for them what they refuse to do for one another. "I am among you," he says, "as one who serves."

What an impact on this self-serving community. What a classic lesson in humility. Surely after he had done this, his words would have rung out with compelling impact. Verse 25. You imagine him just finally wiping the water from his hands, sitting back down, and then saying, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them. Those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors."

Then notice, "But you are not to be like that." You're acting in the way in which contemporary culture acts. You're acting just in the manner of earthly kings and rulers. And what he is not doing is saying this is a system that when perverted is wrong. He's saying this whole notion is wrong.

Earthly kings and rulers, in the day in which Jesus is addressing the issue, use their authority as a means of establishing status and honor. The Roman world and indeed to some extent the Jewish world operated on the basis of benefaction. The benefactors were individuals who were prosperous enough not to have to pay taxes. They were, if you like, able to make quarterly returns. They didn't have the stuff taken out of their paycheck.

It wasn't gone before they got their paws on it. They were in a position where they could decide how they were going to be dispersing all this material and they could find ways to do it in a most advantageous fashion. And what they did was, since they did not have to pay taxes into the community, they used their wealth to do things for the towns and cities and villages in such a way so as to legitimate their public office and to establish a position of privilege within the community.

In order to provide leadership you had to be wealthy, therefore only the wealthy could provide leadership. And Jesus says in verse 26, and I take it to you again, "But you are not to be like that. You're not supposed to be like that." Now before the searchlight of God's Word, let's be honest. The mechanisms within the Church of Jesus Christ owe far more to the thought forms of the surrounding culture in many instances than they do to any divine principles that are laid down in the Scriptures.

And we dodge and weave around it. Jesus takes the system on headfirst. Instead of exploiting their positions, the followers of Jesus should exercise leadership by serving rather than seeking to be served. To do so then is to alter the emphasis from status and from honor and to place it upon the well-being of others.

That's why he had taken the little child and put him beside him because in the context of the day, as in the context of an earlier generation here in the United States, children by dint of their age were the lowest on the totem pole. They were supposed to be seen and not heard. They were supposed to speak when they were spoken to. Doesn't this all sound very archaic? Doesn't this sound like your great-grandmother?

As opposed to the contemporary environment where the youngest dominates the restaurant, where the unruly little tyke becomes the devotion of humanity, where the adults say, "Well, who am I to interfere? After all, she has a mind of her own, you know." Yes, and you were given as her mother in order to prevent her from turning out like a monster. So step up.

Jesus takes the child and he says, "Here, the least is to be the greatest and the greatest shall be as the least." In other words, "I'm going to turn everything on its head. And when you find yourself moving around, acting as if everyone owes it to you, acting as if you have honor and prestige as a result of things that are only the evidence of the grace of God in your life, then," he says, "you need to gaze again into the mirror of the Word and have a check."

"Is it the one who is waited on or the one who waits who is the greatest?" he asks the question. And the answer is, the rhetorical question, the answer is, the person who gets waited on is greater. He's paying the tip, he's paying the bill. The waiter is the waiter. Jesus says, "I am among you as the waiter."

Let's contemporize it at least for some. You're watching the Memorial Tournament down in Columbus. Who is the greatest? The one who plays or the one who caddies? Clearly the one who plays. He gets to choose his own clothes. Nobody tells him you have to wear this or you have to wear that. He may have to wear a pin, but he likes to wear a pin because it says "status, I can get in here."

But the caddies, because I traveled with a caddie this week at the Memorial Tournament, one of my friends. And when we got off the bus and we went into the bag room, the clothes that he'd been wearing, his Adidas tracksuit, came off and he put on a white jumpsuit. I said, "Andrew, you just look like everybody else." He said, "That's the plan."

And now as he moves around, up until that point someone has said, "You know, he's a pretty good-looking guy in an Adidas tracksuit. Is he one of the players from South America?" But as soon as he put on the white jumpsuit with his name across the back, actually not his name across the back, someone else's name across the back, he loses his identity in servanthood, right?

And everywhere he goes, any status he has emerges as a result of the fact that he carries, he doesn't play. He rakes, he doesn't chip it out of the sand. Jesus says, "I am among you as the one who carries. I am among you as the one who rakes. I am among you wearing the white jumpsuit. It is the kings of the Gentiles who act in this way."

Now for those of you who are internalizing this and getting yourself on a dreadful guilt trip because you make quarterly returns and you're prosperous, let me point this out to you. Jesus, this is not some kind of socialism on the part of Jesus. You know, "up the workers and up the caddies and rah-rah for the whatever it is."

What Jesus is saying is this: that if you find yourself in a position of authority, if you find yourself in a position of leadership, if you find yourself with the privileges of benefaction that legitimate your existence, if you have been entrusted with resources, if you have been granted significance, then it is absolutely crucial that in your heart of hearts, somewhere in the core of your being, when people commend you and grant you adulation and open doors for you, that before God in the silence of your own room, you know that the greatest significance that you have is as a result of the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ.

And that the foot of the cross is absolutely level and that there is no greater privilege than the privilege of serving. What a dispute! "I'm going to the cross now. What are you talking about, fellows?" "Oh, we were just having a little discussion, nothing much." Next word is denial. We probably won't get much further than denial. It gets worse, doesn't it?

Verse 31. Incidentally, I'm not deliberately jumping the conferring of the Kingdom. What Jesus is simply pointing out is don't focus on these earthly kingdoms. Just recognize that the Kingdom that I'm conferring on you works on a different principle. Let your focus be on a Kingdom that is eternal.

Simon, Simon. Now that must have reverberated in Simon's mind because after all, when he had been called as a disciple, Jesus had given him a new name. His name Simon means shaky, Mr. Shaky. And Jesus calls him, says, "Hey, Shaky, I want you to follow me. And from now on, I have a name for you. You will be known as the Rock." You can imagine Peter saying, "That's nice, I like that, the Rock."

And here, in the way in which a mother sometimes using the middle name of a child arrests their attention, "Jonathan William!" "Yes, Ma'am." Simon, Simon. What is Jesus doing? He's simply pointing out to him that he is once again very shaky. In fact, underneath his new name, there is still a very shaky individual. And with justification, he reminds Peter of his frailty.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Truth For Life Weekend, that's Alistair Begg with a message titled "Dispute and Denial" and we'll hear the conclusion next weekend. If you're enjoying our current study in the book of Luke, you can listen to Alistair teach through the entire Gospel, all 24 chapters. You'll trace Jesus' life from his birth and ministry to his death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the process you'll discover the portrait Luke presents of the Savior. The complete series is available to listen to for free on our website. Visit truthforlife.org and search for "A Study in Luke".

Now as you prepare for Easter, we want you to sign up to receive Alistair's newly released seven-day reading plan titled "The King on the Cross." Over the course of seven days you'll receive a series of brief emails that trace the rise and fall of Israel's kings, all in anticipation of something much greater. Follow along as Alistair unpacks the Old Testament's expectations of a ruler who would one day come, the perfect King who would sit on the throne forever.

This seven-day reading plan is an enriching way to center your thoughts on God's plan for our salvation throughout all of history. Again the reading plan is called "The King on the Cross", it's free to sign up for the limited emails at truthforlife.org/readingplans. By the way, this is the last weekend we're featuring Alistair's evangelism booklet "The Man on the Middle Cross". He wrote this short paperback to help you introduce others to Jesus and compel them to consider if they're going to heaven.

For more information, visit our website at truthforlife.org. Thanks for studying the Bible with us today. Next weekend we'll learn how quickly seemingly solid faith can become shaky. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.